


Harkness and Smith

by Torchwoodlover123



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, alternate universe but follows canon, basically i wanted to self project
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24671959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torchwoodlover123/pseuds/Torchwoodlover123
Summary: What if Torchwood was made up of six rather than five? A young combat and weapons expert, with a past unknown to everyone but Harkness and even he doesn't know whats coming for young Eleanor Smith. If that is even her real name...
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Kudos: 5





	1. Everything Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Aight sorry I just wanted to write a story where I could pretend I was a Torchwood Character. Oh it also follows canon loosely with a few tweaks, maybe I'll throw in an Eleanor centered story at some point

“One of these days you’ll kiss a bloke and have to go through with it to get out of your messes Harper”

Owen turned around, one foot in the taxi door and one on the pavement just a few meters away from two bewildered civilians who he’d hit with a dose of alien lust mist just a few minutes previous.

“And one of these days you’re gonna give me a fucking heart attack sneaking around like that” he motioned to the driver to stop for a minute, at that very same moment the two people on the pavement began to stagger towards Owen again shouting things that sounded very much like :

“He’s mine you hairy bastard.”

“I saw him first.”

“I told you he’s coming home with me and that’s the last of it.”

Owens eyes widened and he inched closer to cab door in an effort to get away. Just before his arse had reached the safety of the taxis grimy leather seats the figure in the shadows moved. In the dim glow of the clubs low budget lights she was illuminated, human looking, young around her 20’s, brown hair pulled into a tight ponytail, a few strands of hair framed her face, hazel eyes, steely expression, toned, wearing a white collared shirt, high waisted cargo pants with black boots and a leather jacket, an air of ease and layers of confidence, she gave off the vibe of someone who knew exactly what they were doing. She strode over and placed her fingers on the temples of the man and then the woman, stopping them in their tracks.

For a second they seemed dazed and anyone with half a brain would’ve noticed a vacant stare cross both of their features as she began to speak:

“Hi guys sorry about this but I’m a rep from the bar you’ve just stepped out of, turns out our smoke machine developed a fault and you got the impact, might make you feel a bit fuzzy for a while, I recommend getting yourselves home and having plenty of fluids, here have some vouchers to say sorry.” She plucked some colored cards from her pocket and handed them to the couple who snatched them and then walked off down the busy Cardiff street.

 _What the fuck was she doing touching their heads the loony bitch._ Thought Owen, alcohol swimming in his system brushed the thought to the side before his brain had gotten a hold of it.

“Ever heard of consent Owen? Cause I won’t lie when you use that mist I get very potent nonce vibes from you.”

“Are you getting in this taxi or not mate?!” A very disgruntled voice from inside the car shouted, it was 11pm and he was sure he could have done at least two trips to the centre by now, even Cardiff’s Uni students had better manners than these two.

“Gimme lift to the bay and I’ll pay your fare Owen, you must’ve lightened that load in your pockets by now, how many drinks did you sink whilst being rejected by what must be the entire female population of Cardiff?” the woman jumped down off the pavement and began to push the medic further into the car until they were both sat in the back seat. She let out an exaggerated sigh, “I mean, wow, I thought you were a womaniser Harper, I seem to remember you telling me you could have any girl you wanted. You mustn't have wanted any of the six that knocked you back before you whipped out the sex mist then eh?” Sarcasm practically oozed out of every word in her last sentence.

“You infuriate me Eleanor, you know that don’t you?” Eleanor rolled her eyes and grabbed her seat belt pulling it over her chest and clicking it in place.

“It’s one of the few pleasures I have in life, clunk click Owen, would hate to use the glove on you if you go through the windscreen. 2 minutes doesn’t seem nearly enough time for me to tell you how I’m gonna mess up your autopsy bay when your gone” she grinned in the darkness and felt Owen jab her in the knee before he laughed.

“You’d do a job to prise it out of Suzie’s hands long enough, sometimes I think she wants me dead just so she can use it on someone.”

_I don’t think you’re that far from the truth there Owen._

Eleanor opened her mouth to voice this opinion at the very moment their taxi began to take a turn down what she thought must be the wrong street.

“Cardiff Bay please mate! By the water tower if you’d be so kind.”

The driver scowled and changed his route, he didn’t know what kind of drugs those two were on, all that talk of mist and autopsy rooms had turned his stomach, he’d speed to the Bay if it would get the pair out of his taxi.

Eleanor jumped out of the taxi yelling something to Owen about keeping the change from the fare to buy her coffee the next day. The cold welsh breeze hit her skin as she meandered towards the tourist office situated in the corner of the Quay. She felt another presence behind her as she moved closer to the door that masked a much bigger secret than a few leaflets detailing “Cardiff’s secret getaway spots”.

“Jack you’d be shit at hide and seek just saying.”

“Hmm I don’t know about that, I’ve won the naked variety of that game many a time” an American accent drawled from behind her.

“Hmm I have a feeling you cheat Harkness.” Eleanor turned to face Captain Jack Harkness as she turned her key in the lock and flicked on the light switch to illuminate the dank tourist office.

“I am offended you’d think that of me!!” Jack raised a hand to his head in a woe is me pose causing Eleanor to chuckle before setting her face in a steely manner.

“You retconned her then?”

“Yep, come tomorrow Gwen Cooper will have forgotten all about Torchwood, forgotten all about us, and me which really is a shame.” The two stood in front of a shelving unit, Jack lifted up his arm and tapped a few buttons on what looked like a wrist strap, causing that same shelving unit to swing open and reveal a corridor to the Hub below.

“I still think she would’ve been useful, even if she is a bit girl next doorish, god knows we’re no further on finding out who keeps killing people. AND I know you keep saying it’s not our problem but how long before those idiots at the station think we’re behind it? Wouldn’t be the first time the lower ranks have tried to pin something on us.”

“El, we barely have enough room for all six of us already, are you willing to give up your station?” Jack called over his shoulder as he walked up to his office, standing on the top step as Eleanor stood on the level below.

_Unless we get rid of someone soon..._

A thought that was not definitely not Eleanors entered the back of her mind, she spun on her heels and scanned the hub. Across the room Suzie was looking at her with a slight hint of disgust on her face.

“Sorry Suzie did you say something?” Eleanor flashed a sly smile over at the other woman who looked slightly shocked as she put away her work tools.

“No, think you’re hearing things Eleanor, well I better head off, things to do people to see”

_Yeah people to see my arse, people to murder more like._

Suzie sped out of the hub waving to Ianto as she passed the kitchen on her way out.

“Ianto! Fancy helping me hack Coopers computer tonight? Pesky civillians always thinking the notes section of a pc can help them outsmart retcon.” Ianto nodded and handed her a cup of coffee, he then made for the stairs up to Jacks office before Eleanor stopped him.

“I’ll take it up eh? Doesn’t seem fair that you do all the running around, sit down for a sec, I doubt Coopers even through her front door yet never mind logged into her server.” She smiled kindly at him and moved up the stairs, her own coffee in one hand and Jacks black coffee in her other.

ToeIng open the door she stepped inside, Jack was sat at his desk, legs propped up on the table in front of him and a file in his lap. She placed the mug on the desk and shifted Jacks legs to the side before shuffling onto the desk.

“Jack.”

“Eleanor.”

“Jack”

“Eleanor”

“Jack.”

“What?!!!”

“It’s about Suzie, I think she’s a bit too obsessed with this glove. The other day me and Owen did most of her paperwork so she could work on it, we’re spending more time running after murder victims to test it than we are chasing weevils and again today she didn’t even flinch when we told her Gwen was snooping around the Police files for the murder weapon. Like. I dunno. Like she already knew, almost like she expected it! She’s changed Jack, you know it, I know it.”

Jack nodded but still looked skeptical. He watched the younger woman stand and stare at him expectantly for a moment, when she realized he had nothing to offer she finally spoke.

“For fuck sake she’s stopped sleeping with Owen and while usually I’d applaud her life choices it is very out of character.” Another silence filled the office broken only momentarily by Eleanors combat boots scuffing the floor as she kicked absently at the legs of the Captains desk..

“Eleanor, people change all the time, I trust Suzie with everything I have, she’s my second in command for a reason. What proof do you have other than her actually doing the work I pay her for and deciding not to shag Owen? Because if that’s all you have then I should start investigating every one of Owens part time shags and I can tell you that’s going to take the better part of a month.”

“Whatever Jack, but when one of us ends up dead I hope you manage with a team of four because I won’t be staying.” With that Eleanor stormed out of the office and down the stairs in pursuit of Ianto, she’d delete Coopers files and leave as soon as she could. How could Jack dismiss her concerns so easily? Was she really the only one perceptive enough to see when someone was clearly up to something?

Ianto was patiently waiting for her at her station. They got to work erasing every word Gwen Cooper typed from her pc at the flat. Every move with her mouse they tracked, it was very clever really, sometimes she wished she had a stranger around to go “Look how clever this is?!” to at random times during her days at Torchwood but she only had Ianto beside her and he’d grown accustomed to the advanced tech they had at Torchwood Three. By the time they’d finished it was 1am, Ianto silently slunk off the chair and off into the depths of the hub and Eleanor threw on her jacket that was strewn across the chair, taking one last look at the dim shapes of light cast by the body of Jack in his office before heading out into the Cardiff night air. She still had those vouchers for that bar, there was a pint out there and a random stranger with her name on.

The next day rolled around and it was safe to say her plan for the night before had been a success. She woke up in someone else’s bed, with a headache that could wipe out a Sontaron and an empty pocket where those handy little vouchers had been. Ah the human pleasures of life. Oh and 10 missed calls from Jack... not so much a pleasure. She looked at the bundle beneath the covers beside her and decided the best course of action was to bolt, but not before leaving a glass of water next to her latest escapade (what? She was a gentleman at heart?).

The morning was filled with mundane paperwork, and side glances from Jack, clearly someone was a bit miffed she had a better night than them. Files for unit were strewn around her workstation and Eleanor went down into the archives at least 4 times just to scream about how Kairns her liaison at UNIT had about as much understanding as a 7-year-old in an a-level math's class. She feared she may have given Ianto a minor heart attack the first time she went down there but then again Ianto always looked slightly on edge when someone else was in the lower levels with him. Personally she thought it was down to the fact he liked things neat and tidy down there, she couldn’t blame him for being paranoid, she once let Owen organize her weapons cabinet in the shooting range once and vowed never to give him that sort of power ever again. God knows what he’d do if Ianto allowed him to be alone in the archives for more than ten minutes.

Suzie was avoiding her, she didn’t mind, the less she saw of Suzie the better in her opinion. It minimized the risk of her murdering the older woman from sheer annoyance. They’d never really gotten on, Eleanor was at Torchwood long before Suzie or the others joined, her and Jack had occupied the hub together for about as long as the tourist office had been standing. She suspected Suzie didn’t like how close she was to Jack and despite gaining the position of his second in command and getting close to Jack in her own snakey ways still seemed to seek out any opportunity to re in force that authority over Eleanor. Suzie unsettled her, something about her just didn’t sit right, like an itch under her skin that never really went away, apart from over the last few months that itch felt more like a wasp sting or a fuck off splinter. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew the others had been taking tech from the hub for a while now but there was a huge difference between Tosh taking equipment to read books with and Suzie taking a resurrection glove. As much as she trusted Jack with her life she couldn’t help feeling even he was underestimating Suzie massively. She just hoped the magazine she had slipped through Coopers door with the millennium Centre on the front hadn’t gone untouched.

In the early hours of the next morning Eleanor got the answer to her question, she was just about to drift off to sleep on the sofa surrounded by more Unit paperwork when she saw Jack practically sprint out of his office and over to the concrete slab in the middle of the Hub. She shot upright and grabbed her gun from the coffee table, knocking over her cold coffee onto the stone floor as she did so.

“Sorry Ianto I’ll clean up later” she muttered as she ran to join Jack on the rising platform.

“So what’s going on?”

“Coopers back, Suzies not too pleased, you were right.”

“I know now isn’t the time for I told you so’s but maybe we should get on the phone to Owens ex shags.”

The platform rose onto the Plass and the two we greeted with the sight of Suzie pointing a gun at Gwen Coopers head.

...”Isn't it though? Well that's what I've been working for. All day, all night, the rest of them go swanning about while I'm working. You gotta get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it, I did with the knife and the glove, and that's why the perception filter isn't going to work on me..”

Eleanor heard the gunshot and only just registered what had happened when she saw Jacks body hit the ground next to her.

She knew he’d come back there was no use trying to speed up the process, the plan now was to move behind Suzie, get a clear shot and take her down. It was like her dreams come true, okay maybe not, she didn’t think this one would end with a party on a tropical beach as she burnt Suzies body on a bonfire. What? She’d dreamt of this moment okay?

Moving slowly off the slab she kept to the shadows hoping Suzie would be too preoccupied with her grand speech to Gwen that she wouldn’t see her move round the back. Over Suzies shoulder she could see Gwen panic, her eyes locked onto the Welshwoman’s trying to get her to focus, she’d began to sob and clutch her hair.

_Gwen you don’t know me and I can’t explain how you’re hearing me right now but you need to stay calm okay? Breathe._

She drew her hand from her pocket and lifted her glock so it was parallel with Suzies skull. At the same time she saw Jack stand up behind Gwen urging Suzie to put the gun down. They both looked at each other and Eleanor steadied her hand, their silent deal was made, take out Suzie before she takes out Gwen.

“Put the gun down, it’s over” Jack motioned to Suzie, holding out his hand, waves of desperation coming off him as he tried to save yet another one of his team.

She felt the liquid hit her face and clothing before she registered the sound of the gun going off in Suzies grip, angled under her chin, the perfect place for someone to shoot if they wanted to drop dead. She froze watching as Gwen slid to the ground and Jack held her in the middle of the Plass.

Echoes of Gwen stuttering “I remember. I remember.” running through her head.

Fuck she was going to need so much alcohol to process this, shame she’d used all her vouchers.

As the sun came up over Cardiff city the team stood in Jacks office, Eleanor watched as Owen handed in the spray and Tosh gave up her scanning device. Shame, Eleanor thought, I could read all of the lord of the rings in one day with that. As the rest of the team began to pack away Suzies things Eleanor slunk away to the morgue and stared at the face of Suzie Costello.

“Is this what everyone from Torchwood becomes?”

The silence in the morgue was deafening, row upon row of dead people. Victims, friends, hell even lovers lay in those drawers. The emotions caught up with her like a wave and Eleanor's back hit the cool unit as she sunk to the floor, tears tracked down her face until she felt as if all the moisture in her body had been expelled.

That night Gwen would become a Torchwood member, Tosh would go home and read some crappy romance novel, Owen would find some girl in some bar and do some stuff that he wouldn’t remember tomorrow, Ianto would, well Eleanor didn’t actually know; if one person was a enigma it was Ianto Jones. She would watch Jack Harkness sink his grief in a bottle of whisky, watching as the light from his desk lamp illuminated his silhouette on that concrete wall from where she sat in the lower level of the hub. Trying to think of anything but that vacant look in Suzie Costello’s eyes and the feel of the blood hitting her skin sinking into cracks in flesh she didn’t know she had, the feeling she’d never be able to scrub it off.

Eleanor didn’t sleep that night, no need when her day to day life was often more terrifying than any nightmare.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Gwen's first day at Torchwood and Eleanor's night off. What could possibly go wrong?

It was 3am and Eleanor was well and truly wankered. Jack had given her the night off, a rare occurrence is ever there was one, he was hesitant to let her as she had a habit of turning her mobile off even though Jack liked them to be on standby but here she was in an alleyway behind one of the busiest nightclubs in Cardiff. She shivered in the cool night air, she’d come outside for a moment, when sober she could sort through all the thoughts and emotions that gravitated towards her but the more alcohol she absorbed the less she was able to ignore them and sometimes it got too much. That being said it was NOT going to ruin her Torchwood free night. Eleanor wrapped her jacket tighter around her and began to walk back into the club. It was then she saw her, slim, attractive, hair pulled back into a really fancy bun thing (Eleanor was jealous she could never seem to get her hair all fancy like that), a purple strappy top and a white skirt. Sadness radiated off her and hit El in every inch of her body, she was crying and sounded so upset, speaking through her phone, from the lack of pauses she deduced it was a voicemail.

“Are you alright?” Eleanor shouted and stepped closer to the girl. She whipped her head round to face Eleanor but as she did so a large ball of gas seemed to come out of nowhere obscuring the young girls face from view and filling Eleanor with a lot of dread. So much for a Torchwood free night.

The girl seemed to have forgotten all about Eleanor in the shadows, she began to walk back into the direction of the club, Eleanor's hand reached for her phone in her back pocket, she was ready to click the call button when she saw the girl kiss the bouncer before being let back in. Interesting, she was just crying down the phone presumably to a boy and is now kissing bouncers. Curiosity got the better of her and she put her phone back instead reaching for her fake Police badge.

“Alright fellas? Look I know you don’t let people in passed this time but I'm here to double check you guys are keeping to the under 21 laws, surprise inspection I’m afraid.” She flashed them a smile and tried her very best impression of a sober person.

By the time Eleanor had made it into the club she couldn’t see the girl anywhere, moving through the sea of bodies she tried to search out any essence of the sadness she felt in the alley, she struggled and tried to concentrate but couldn’t seem to find any. Whatever had attacked that girl had wiped it out, another wave of dread overtook her and she pulled her phone back out, again she reached for Jacks contact number, noticing the notifcation that she had 10 missed calls and inwardly cursed. She hit dial;

“You have reached the voicemail of Captain Jack Harkness, I’m busy right now but leave your name and I’ll call you back.” She groaned and turned back to the entrance of the club, hoping to God the girl had left and hailed a taxi back to the hub.

The cog door opened and she overheard the rest of the team as she over to the autopsy bay.

“On the downside there's an alien on the loose and we don't know what it is, where it is or what its gonna do.” Owen looked at Gwen, what had she done?

She saw Ianto as she made her way down the steps, carrying a clipboard, shit did that say nightclub death? She was so stupid, if only she’d stayed.

“Yeah about that I think I know where that alien is.”

Four heads turned to look at her, before Jack could open his mouth presumably to berate her for not getting his calls yet again, she sensed Ianto just over her shoulder.

“I was going to say this might help. Nightclub death, been phoned into 999. Circumstances sound a little unusual. Might be connected.” Ianto held out a clipboard and Gwen stepped up to take it as Eleanor turned and looked at him. 

“Right then team to the SUV.” Jack then made a point to look at Eleanor, “We need to talk.”

“With all due respect Sir, I think it can wait, don’t you?” With that Eleanor led the way out of the hub making no effort to look back at Jacks reaction.

**Early hours of the next day**

Eleanor jumped out of the SUV racing into the building with Jack and the others. She made a beeline straight for the toilets, stopping when she saw the pile of dust on the floor.

“Shit... Jack in here!” the others ran into the toilets to join her.

Five minutes later the security guard from last night was beside her.

“Do I know you?” he eyed her suspiciously.

“Not now mate, right now we’re interested in what happened here” Eleanor gestured to the pile of dust next to the sink.

“The question is how did you know this used to be a body?” Jack asked the man clearly knowing the answer already as the man fidgeted for a second and left the room urging for the group to follow him up to his office.

The small tv screen showed them all they needed to know; Owen smirked as Jack made some joke, but Eleanor just looked on feeling nothing but guilt for not following the girl more closely in the club that night.

“Did you know the girls name?” Gwen questioned; the man just shook his head.

“Did the two of them arrive together or did they meet in the club? Is she a regular? Would any of the other staff know her?” the man went on the defensive then obviously clueless and Eleanor realized it was time to share what she knew.

Back at the hub Eleanor had gathered the rest of the team in the conference room, Jack updated her on what had happened at the crash site and she told them what she had seen.

“...So, I went back in, but I couldn’t find her, look guys I’m sorry if I'd have stayed maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” She stared out of the glass onto the hub below.

“You weren't to know El,” Tosh said kindly, “That club was packed you had no way of finding her again before this happened, its not like you could track her is it? All of that equipment was back here and it was your night off”

El sighed, she didn’t want the rest of the team to know about what she had sensed and the way she’d began to pick up on random thoughts, it scared even her to realize what had been happening and there was no way she was going to expose herself to any tests Jack would want to run. She had a theory that being around the rift too much had affected her in some way but wanted to do some testing of her own before she revealed it.

“No I guess not.” She muttered fiddling with the zip on her jacket.

Jack then stood up and the others followed his lead. “Eleanor you’re in charge of the body, ask Ianto to cross reference his face on the cctv to the bodies in the cryo-chamber. Before you argue, you're the best person for maiming corpses and you didn’t answer your phone. Again!” Jack raised his voice slightly and Owen made tutting noises as he walked out, Eleanor flipped him off and ran downstairs to the morgue. Jack rang her whilst she was hauling the body into a nearby reservoir to tell him they’d brought the girl, Carys, into the hub and the creature was using her body as a vessel, feeding on the orgasmic energy of men.

A few hours later she returned to the hub, specs of dried blood on under her fingers and itching for a shower. She’d arrived just in time to see Owen, Tosh and Jack all crowded around a computer screen watching very intently. Owen beckoned her over;

“Wowzers.”

“Thought you said she had a boyfriend?” murmured Tosh. Eleanor was going to make a quip about categories until Jack got there first. Instead she grabbed Tosh’s gun from the table and held it preempting the fact that once they’d “seen enough” they’d do the professional thing and get her out of there. Within two minutes Tosh had grabbed the gun off her and given her a nod as a thanks as they raced down to the holding cells.

Gwen was fine, seemed to be on the phone to Rhys.

Eleanor took that time to leave and get that shower, surely they’d last a few minutes without her.

The showers were situated on the second lower level of the hub, simple but efficient and Ianto had made sure it was regularly stocked with towels and enough supplies for them all to use if they needed. She peeled off her grimy shirt, unhooked her bra and pulled her shoes and socks off. She turned the shower on and shimmied out of her black jeans, throwing them ontop of the pile, frowning slightly when a fob watch tumbled out of her jacket. That was odd she didn’t remember putting that in there. She tucked the fob back into the pocket and ran her hand over the watch face, it was cracked in places and a slight warmth emanated from it. She’d show it to Ianto later, maybe it belonged in the archive and ended up in her things when he’d taken Jacks drycleaning the other day. As the hot water cascaded over her she had time to think, properly think about the events of the last few weeks, Suzie dying in front of her, Jack hiring Gwen and pretending Eleanor didn’t hear him scream most nights from the terrors that haunted his dreams, he pretending he didn’t hear hers that had returned so suddenly. Jack had always said the 21st century is when everything changes and an unease settled over her as she realized he was probably right.

Thirty minutes later she emerged back into the main area of the hub narrowly missing Jack as he made his way out of the boardroom. Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto seemed to be in the middle of a discussion about Jack as she entered.

“Ooh Chinese! What’ve I missed?”

“Newbie tried to throttle me, Tea Boy ordered food and now we’re trying to figure out the mystery that is Captain Jack Harkness” Owen said not stopping in between mouthfuls of his chow mein.

“Surely he has his reasons for keeping things a secret.” Gwen said defensively, ah yet another reason he hired her, loyal and she doesn’t even know him yet, not that any of them really did.

“Sure he has. Doesn’t stop me from wanting to know what they are.” Owen shot back.

“And one day Owen if you wish REALLY hard you might just find out.” Eleanor snarked, sitting and grabbing her noodles from the bottom of the bag and taking a bite. They tasted funny in her mouth like her taste buds were having some sort of identity crisis, how weird.

Owen opened his mouth to fire back a reply about Eleanor being smug because they all knew she had info on Jack the others could only dream off but would never tell when they all turned their attention to Carys sobbing on the monitor.

Jack re-entered the room explaining to Gwen how they’d been keeping tabs on Carys down in the cells. Gwen was reeling off some speech about being a human in the 21st century and Eleanor had to admire her balls to be quite honest. She volunteered to help her search for more information on Carys and her life, going way deeper than Torchwoods usual background checks. Gwen was urging Jack to bring in Carys’ dad when they realized they’d left Owen in the cells with her, seeing Owen stood there naked looking like a total prat was enough to make Eleanor forget all about her earlier worries and the unease that hung over her for more than a second. Then the reality of the situation took over as Eleanor remembered there was a girl fighting for her life on the loose out there somewhere. The three girls took off up the stairs just in time to see Jack clutching the hand that was usually housed in its jar in the middle of the tourist office. Tosh and Gwen sprinted ahead in pursuit of Carys but Eleanor was rooted to the spot something was off about that hand, she couldn't pull her focus away from.

It took Owen running in and shouting about something in the autopsy bay to get her to snap out of it, by which point Jack was looking at her very oddly. The team congregated around the autopsy bay watching as Owen explained Carys’s biometrics and how the alien had begun infecting her. Eleanor could feel Jacks attention on her all the way up until the minute Owen exploded the rat into what he called “Rat Jam”. Then they set to work trying to think like Carys, Tosh mentioned ex boyfriends and the team sprang into action. Eleanor raced to the storeroom to grab the gas masks and white suits. Eleanor jumped in the driver's seat of the SUV as the others loaded up, Tosh sat behind her reading out directions to Eddies flat. An orange glow settled over Cardiff as evening drew in reminding them all just how little time they had left to track Carys down. Eleanor stayed In the car a brief case on her lap as she reloaded the guns for the rest of the team, for some reason she thought that might not have been the only reason Jack wanted her out of the way as the others ran into Eddies flat. What was his problem with her today?

She’d barely had time to reload two Glocks before they others were jumping back into the car.

“Drive Eleanor, we don’t have much time!” Jack shouted as he clambered into the passenger seat, clearly frustrated.

“Where? What's the next move?” Eleanor bit back her anger, some days Jack really was a handful and it seems today she was the brunt of his annoyance, bit unfair considering Cooper got them into this mess.

Eleanor focused on the road, pulling out of the parking spot she had found and making her way back onto the main road as the rest of the team tried to figure out what the alien wanted from Carys specifically. When Gwen said she was just a temp Eleanor suddenly joined the dots

“Tosh pull up her employment files” She called over her shoulder, whilst going round a corner pretty fast considering she wasn’t paying attention to the road.

“Conway Clinic” Tosh said with a hint of defeat. Both Eleanor and Owen sighed.

“You're joking?” Owen said in disbelief A fertility clinic, bloody hell, Eleanor stepped on the accelerator, hard, and made for the clinic.

This time she jumped out of the SUV before Jack had the chance to object. They made for the reception area, Eleanor split off to kick open doors whilst Jack told everyone to leave. It was Owen who found her in the end. When the others joined him he had his gun trained on Carys. Eleanor watched as she collapsed to the floor and she didn’t exactly know why but something pulled her towards the girl, she slid her gun backwards across the floor so it landed at the feet of a very confused Tosh.

“You want to feel alive Carys?” Eleanor held out her hand and a very weak Carys clutched it.

“Yes, make me feel human please?” Carys pleaded “ELEANOR!” Jack practically yelled, this wasn’t in his plan at all, it would kill her.

“I’m no Captain Jack Harkness but I can have a go ey?” She ignored Jacks objection and leaned towards Carys caressing her cheek before moving in to kiss her.

A golden air surrounded the pair, Eleanor felt everything being drained out of her, yet with every bit of life ebbing away it seemed to be replaced bit by bit as she kept giving Carys what she needed until to everyone's surprise Carys fainted.

Jack came to Eleanor's side “What the hell was that?” he grabbed her wrist and took her pulse; it was weak but steady.

“What’s wrong Jack worried you’ve got some competition?” Eleanor smiled weakly before collapsing into Jacks arms.

When she awoke hours later back in the hub, Jack was at the foot of her bed.

“Now we definitely need to talk Eleanor Smith.”


End file.
